"What a coincidence. That's why I'm here." He pointed over his shoulder at Professor Hunter. Professor Hunter was reading a book. He didn't even look up. "Which one of you lovely ladies is getting married?"
"This is my friend, Alina," Layla said. "Alina, this is Mason."
Mason lowered his eyebrows slightly as he shook Alina's hand. "You look really familiar. But I have no idea where I've seen you."
Alina laughed awkwardly. "I just have one of those faces."
"That's not it," the guy who looked like Mason said. He stood up and joined Mason. "I definitely recognize you. You're Alina Smith. She's the tiebreaker girl, man," he said to Mason.
Mason laughed. "Oh." He scratched the back of his neck. "Right. Well, I'm pretty sure most guys weren't staring at your face."
Alina's face turned bright red.
"But this is my brother, Matt," Mason said and slapped the guy next to him on his back.
"It's great to meet you," he said to Alina. "That was some quality television. I'm pretty sure I still have it on my DVR."
Mason cleared his throat. "And that's my friend James behind me and his brother Rob."
Brothers. That made sense. I looked over at Rob again. I swallowed hard. He was still staring at me. I turned back to my friends, but every few moments I'd glance in his direction. He looked pleased with himself. Like he knew I thought he was hot. Well, he didn't know anything about me. And he certainly didn't know anything about what I did and didn't like. I looked over at Professor Hunter instead. He was still reading his book.
"Nice to meet you guys," Layla said. "Oh, and this is my friend Kristen Dwyer."
James looked up from his book. I could have been imagining it, but he looked slightly freaked out. Like maybe he knew Kristen had stalked him in college. And maybe he was still worried she was.
"Great to meet you," Mason said and shook Kristen's hand.
"You too. Alina and I were actually in Professor Hunter's class at the University of New Castle. Well, I was in a few of his classes, Alina was just in one."
"I should have known you ladies were from there. I think James and I both agree that some of the hottest girls are from the University of New Castle."
I rolled my eyes.
"My girlfriend went there. And so did James' fiancée. Aren't you going to say hi to your old students?" Mason asked Professor Hunter.
Professor Hunter stood up and stretched. He seemed completely uninterested in the conversation that was going on. But I could tell why Kristen was obsessed with him. It was hard not to stare at his perfectly sculpted torso. It was certainly easy to imagine licking the lines of his six pack. I shook the thought away. It had been way too long since I last had sex.
He cleared his throat. "Kristen and Alina, of course. It's great to see you again." He shook Alina's hand and then Kristen's.
The smile on Kristen's face made her look like a crazy person. "It's so good to see you again. Your classes were definitely my favorite. I was so sad when you stopped teaching, Professor Hunter."
"You can just call me James. And thanks. I'm glad you got something out of my classes."
"Okay, James," she said with a smile. I'm pretty sure she sighed, but I could have been wrong. I wasn't close enough to tell.
Professor Hunter looked over at Mason and raised both his eyebrows.
It was so obvious that he knew that Kristen had stalked him. I laughed out loud. Mason, Matt, and Professor Hunter looked over at me.
I hadn't meant to laugh. I quickly looked out at the pool. There was just one lady swimming laps. Now it looks like I have the hots for women.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Professor Hunter's brother stand up and join his friends. "So it seems like you all know each other already. But who's your friend?"
Is he talking about me? Please don't be talking about me.
"That's Daphne," Layla said. "Daphne, did you ever have James in class?"
Crap. Now I had to walk over there. "No," I said and stood up, keeping my towel in front of my body. "But Kristen used to go on and on about him."
Professor Hunter laughed and Kristen gave me a death stare.
Maybe Professor Hunter wasn't as uptight as I thought. It probably was just the onslaught of students flirting with him that made him so uncomfortable. Despite the fact that one of my best friends was in love with him, I was always a fan of his story with Penny. And I believed that the school made up rumors about them. Because I had seen them in tabloids too. They clearly adored each other. And here he was on his bachelor party. If they weren't truly in love, they wouldn't be getting married.
I realized I was standing there awkwardly. "So, Mason, Matt, James, and Rob," I said, gesturing toward each of them as I said their names. "Nice to meet you, guys."
"The pleasure is all ours," Matt said. "I see you ladies already lost your bracelets. I guess you're hot commodities at the Blue Parrot Resort."
Layla laughed. "Not exactly." She looked over at me.
Don't you dare. I will hate you forever. I'm warning you, Layla. But we barely knew each other. She couldn't read my stares yet.
"Daphne's the only one of us who is single. So we gave them all to her." She pulled my towel off my arm, revealing both my inappropriately tiny bikini and my four gold bracelets all at once.
Shit! I quickly folded my arms in front of my chest.
I looked over at Rob. He had put his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks. He looked disappointed. I felt my heart sink. I thought he was attracted to me. But now that he had seen my stupid bikini, it seemed like he had changed his mind. Probably because it was way too revealing and I looked like a hooker. I was pretty impressed that he was staring at my bracelets instead of my breasts though.
"And this is why you save your card until after breakfast," Matt said to Rob and walked toward me.
No. No, no, no.
"Daphne, it's nice to meet you." He put his hand out for me to shake.
Which meant I had to unfold my arms. Damn it. I put my hand out for him to shake and then immediately crossed my arms again when his eyes wandered to my breasts.
"I was just about to head back to our room," I said. "I forgot my sunglasses, so..." I let my voice trail off.
"Gotcha. How about I walk you?"
Did he seriously think that was a proposition for sex? "Oh. No. I really just forgot my sunglasses. I'm certainly not in need of an escort."
Matt smiled as he pulled a card out of his pocket. "How about we do this first?" He held the card out in front of me.
I reluctantly looked down at the card. It read, "Apply sunscreen to me."
Phew. "I'm actually a huge proponent of sunscreen. So, I've already applied it. But thanks for offering. Maybe you should use it on one of those girls over there? They look like they're dangerously close to getting sunburnt." I pointed to a group of women on the other side of the pool. They were a little older than us, but not by much. I was sure they'd love to have Matt's hands all over them.
Matt smiled. "Oh, no, the card means that you have to apply it to me. And I'm not wearing any."